The beacon of youth

~dud-< >-~Chapter 57 Niushou Mountain

The painstaking persuasion was quite effective. These engineers and soldiers are also sensible people. Most of them have no aversion to working with the People's Liberation Army. In addition, the soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion are all around, and even if there are a few who want to quit, they dare not express it.

The combat effectiveness of the engineers themselves was mediocre. In addition, they were unprepared, and some of them didn't even bring weapons when they assembled. The soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion were already very confident in dealing with them, and the difference was only the last step.

Zhang Jinsong also knew what they were thinking. Most of the du li brigade was composed of captive soldiers, so he knew the psychological state of the soldiers at the grassroots level very well. Lao Balu was very experienced in this kind of work.

Including the second son of Changning in a row, all of them were prisoners. Although they were reluctant at the beginning, as long as they are well educated, they are all good soldiers. It depends on how the political and ideological work in the PLA troops is done.

Strike while the iron is hot, Zhang Jinsong continued to work: "Brothers, you engineers are treasures in our PLA troops. As long as the brothers can vote for us, we are very happy. If you don't want to be a soldier, it's easy to do. We pay the travel expenses to go home, but , I would like to persuade everyone that the whole country will be liberated soon, and this world is the world of our People's Liberation Army and People's Liberation Army. It's not in vain to go home and plant some land when it's time. This five-foot body."

We have an old saying in China, "He who knows the current affairs is a hero." The war has reached this level. Everyone knows that the Kuomintang is over, Ma Bufang in Qinghai is over, and the Majiajun in Ningxia is also about to end. The officers and soldiers are fighting for their own Worried about the future, I couldn't bear it anymore when I heard the chief of the People's Liberation Army say that they could be taken in, and they were still engineers in their old profession.

The soldiers shouted in confusion: "Sir, we all want to be the Eighth Route Army and the People's Liberation Army, as long as we can take us in."

An engineer battalion was settled without firing a single shot. Zhang Jinsong was in a good mood and laughed at the prisoners who wanted to be the Eighth Route Army. It will definitely be reused in the troops of the People's Liberation Army."

Zhang Jinsong did not lie to them. In the late period of the War of Liberation, the size of the army expanded too fast, and units such as engineers were indeed in short supply.

Having said that, Zhang Jinsong changed the subject: "Brothers, if you want to be the Eighth Route Army, I raise my hand to welcome you, so that we will be a family. If we are a family, I will tell the truth. We must hurry up and get the explosives buried on the embankment out." , the explosives can’t come out, and I can’t eat well, brothers, let’s do this job overnight, do you think it’s okay??”

The explosives were laid by the engineers, and it would be most appropriate for them to come out again. Under the organization of Zhang Jinsong, Ning Erzi, and Deputy Army Commander He Shuheng, it took more than two hours to get everything right. The explosives, Detonators, fuzes, fuses, all recovered.

So far, the task assigned by the du li brigade to the reconnaissance battalion has been successfully completed. Zhang Jinsong led the soldiers to ensure the safety of the Yellow River embankment and at the same time captured an engineer battalion of the 2nd Army of the Kuomintang Ningxia Majia Army. up.

While Zhang Jinsong led the soldiers to work on the Yellow River embankment, the Nineteenth Corps' encirclement and suppression of the Ningma Army's 2nd Army began.

To deal with a 2nd Army, of course it is not necessary to dispatch the entire 60th Corps. Commander Yang Dezhi and Political Commissar Li Zhimin handed over the task to the No. 2 Fourth Army of the People's Liberation Army, and at the same time strengthened the First Division of the Northwest Military Region du li, du li The second division, Li Yongdu li brigade, a total of six division brigade-level troops, encircled the [-]nd Army with an absolutely superior force.

The intelligence and reconnaissance before the war showed that the force configuration of Ningma's 2nd Army was that the military headquarters and 256th Division were stationed in Lingwu, and the 56th Division and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade were stationed in Jinji. The 2nd Army was assigned a third security division.

According to the characteristics of the enemy's troop configuration, Commander Zeng Siyu of the 64th Army decided to concentrate his efforts to destroy the enemy of Jinji first, and then rush to Lingwu.

The strength of the 2nd Army of the Ningma Army is a level behind that of the 64th Army of the People's Liberation Army. It's too cheap.

During the entire process of the liberation of Ningxia by the [-]th Corps of the People's Liberation Army, the Majia Army in Ningxia did not organize a strong resistance. Although this has something to do with the strength of the two armies, it is also inseparable from the foolish tactics of the Majia Army in Ningxia.

The Ningma Army has a total of more than 8 troops. These 8 people were not used in a concentrated manner, but were dispersed for layer-by-layer defense. The main 2nd Army did not learn this lesson when it confronted the People's Liberation Army. When the soldiers pressed the border, they also divided the troops into two groups, guarding Jinji and Lingwu respectively, which planted a fatal hidden danger for the failure of the battle. Therefore, some people say that no matter whether it is the Qingma Army or the Ningma Army, if they dare to fight Dare to fight is indeed commendable, but it is not worth mentioning in terms of tactics. Commander-in-chief Ma Dunjing's level may not be comparable to that of an ordinary battalion and company commander in the People's Liberation Army. Comparing tactics with Commander Yang Dezhi is purely Nonsense.

Jinji, built around the middle of the Qing Dynasty, is an ancient castle with a city wall. It is only 6 kilometers away from Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia. The Niushou Mountain, which is more than [-] meters above sea level outside the city, is its natural barrier.

To encircle and annihilate the 2nd Army, you must first attack Jinji, and if you attack Jinji first, you must first conquer Niu Shou Mountain. Niu Shou Mountain, which is more than 6 meters above sea level, became the key to Jin Ji's first battle.

The enemy's deployment of troops is that the 56th Division is stationed in Jinji City, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade is cruising outside Jinji City as a mobile force, and the [-]rd Security Division is guarding Niu Shou Mountain.

In response to the deployment of the Ningma 2nd Army, Commander Zeng Siyu ordered the 64th and 9nd Divisions of the 92th Army to attack from both sides of Niushou Mountain, while Li Yongduli's brigade detoured from the back mountain and launched an attack from the side of Niushou Mountain First, eliminate the Third Security Division, seize the commanding heights outside Jinji City, and use the Du Li First Division and Du Li Second Division of the Northwest Military Region as well as the army directly under the army to monitor the Ningma 56th Division and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in Jinji City.

The third security division of the Ningma Army has only more than 5000 people, but the 64th Army of the People's Liberation Army under siege used three main divisions (9, 92, and du li brigades), with a total strength of more than 3 troops. The comparison of the strength of the two armies has reached an astonishing Six to one, this is the strategy and tactics of **, despise the enemy strategically, pay attention to the enemy tactically, must concentrate superior forces in every battle to fight annihilation battle, hurt the enemy's ten fingers, it is better to cut off one finger, Commander Zeng Siyu implemented it flexibly Based on this tactic, in the battle of Niushou Mountain, he concentrated several times the enemy's strength and technical weapons, striving to destroy the enemy's Third Security Division in one fell swoop.

The battle started in the second half of the night. The No.60 Fourth Army of the People's Liberation Army did not underestimate the enemy because the enemy had only one security guard. It concentrated a large number of heavy artillery before the battle. Because of the addition of the du li brigade, Commander Zeng Siyu There are more than two hundred cannons in his hands.

Following the order of Army Commander Zeng Siyu, several heavy artillery groups of the People's Liberation Army aimed at the Third Ningma Security Division on Niushou Mountain and bombed wildly.

There are more than 200 artillery pieces, and a few simultaneous shots are more than 1000 shells.

Niu Shou Mountain is more than 600 meters above sea level, and the terrain is steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The third security division rushed to repair many field fortifications, hoping to use these fortifications to defend to the death.

However, the Third Security Division is a local army after all. Soldiers and officers have never seen such artillery fire. Let alone seeing it, they have never even heard of it. Silly.

The People's Liberation Army's fierce artillery preparation lasted for half an hour. Half an hour later, the infantry attack began. Under the command of the brigade commander Li Yong, the du li brigade launched an attack from the side of Niushou Mountain.

The first wave of the du li brigade's attack force was two infantry battalions. Because of the strong request of the third battalion commander Ma Changsheng and the fourth battalion commander Ning Jinshan, the brigade commander Li Yong used the third and fourth battalions as sharp-edged troops to rush to the top of the mountain.

The fighters of the two battalions, with the combat group as the unit, attacked the top of the mountain under the cover of powerful firepower.

Mountain battles are one of the subjects that du li brigade cadres and soldiers must practice at ordinary times. Coupled with continuous participation in actual combat, such battles are already familiar to the du li brigade soldiers.

Dozens of mountain artillery, field artillery and infantry artillery were all pushed up by the soldiers. Gao Xiang, the artillery battalion commander, required his soldiers, soldiers of the front-line infantry battalion and the targets they wanted to attack must be within the effective striking distance of their own artillery fire. In other words, the small-caliber direct-pointing artillery of the artillery battalion must closely follow the infantry to provide the most direct fire support for the infantry.

The Third Security Division of the Ningma Army built a large number of temporary firepower points on the mountain. Most of these firepower points were built on the slope of the mountain that the infantry was going to attack, and this kind of firepower point built on the slope was the favorite target of the infantry artillery.

The artillery fire continued to shoot in front of the infantry. As soon as the firepower of the Ningma Army was exposed, it was shot down by the infantry artillery. Stopped, the soldiers found to their dismay that even though they were on the defensive side, they had no way to fight against the People's Liberation Army.

After aiming and firing, with a bang, another shell was fired. A few seconds later, a bunker where more than a dozen people were hidden was blown up to the sky.

This kind of scene was constantly being staged in the area where the du li brigade attacked the troops. The infantry was conducting firepower testing in front, while the artillery continued to follow up and bombarded any resistance.

If the defending side encounters an enemy with powerful firepower, the front slope fortifications will become the target of the shells

~dud-< >-~